McCall hails ‘brilliant’ Saracens

The victory at Franklin's Gardens was Saracens' fourth in a row in the Premiership as they edged the Saints in a contest that ended try-less.

"I thought it was a brilliant away performance by us," McCall told the club website after a streetwise triumph.

"We came up here, ended up dominating the game and controlled the last 25 minutes, defended magnificently and I am chuffed to bits that we got a win at a very difficult place.

"We want to play, but sometimes you get games like today, where the ball is incredibly slow and slippy and you have to grind it out – our job was to make sure we won," he added.

McCall singled out young flanker Maro Itoje and second-row George Kruis for individual praise as Saracens remain top of the league table going into the European break.

"I thought all of our English players were magnificent today – Richard Wigglesworth as well as Owen Farrell. Brad Barritt led the team well in the second half when Alistair Hargreaves went off," he said.

"Our young second rows were exceptional – George Kruis and Maro Itoje were truly brilliant and led the charge physically in the second half."